Mac sales down slightly, but PC sales down much more

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The iMac
The iMac

There wasn't great news for Mac enthusiasts in Apple's latest quarterly earnings report - Mac sales are actually down year over year. Apple sold 3.952 million Macs this past quarter, compared to 4.017 million for the same quarter a year ago.

Putting a positive spin on the news, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer noted during the conference call with analysts that while Mac sales are down 2 percent year over year, the rest of the PC industry is faring worse - sales are down 14 percent year over year, according to a report from IDC.

Even though unit sales are down, revenue is up - Apple raked in $5.447 billion in Mac sales for the quarter, compared to $5.073 for the same quarter a year ago. So while Apple may not have sold as many Macs, it made more money on them. Tim Cook attributes the difference to strong demand in iMac sales; no surprise, given that the supply of new, thin iMac models was constrained until the beginning of the year.

Peter Cohen
Peter Cohen
13 Comments
  • In other words, things are going exactly as Apple wants.
    Nice to keep selling lots of Macs, but this is the post-PC era.
    Times change.
  • The shape and size has changed, its a different OS, but that thing you're doing all your personal computing on is a PC. That doesn't make for interesting stats though.
  • Part of the blame, in my opinion, falls to Apple, as they are the one who introduced (did they?) tablets to us. But change is good! Now, it's the desktop makers' turn now on how will they make PCs more interesting or relevant.
  • What I still find a bit mind-boggling is that Apple sold 20m ipads vs 4m PCs... Keep in mind that the ipad was invented in 2010! The post PC era arrived so quickly...(sent from ipad)
  • Of course more ipads sold. Everyone already has a PC, and people don't usually buy a new one every year. Or even every two years. But I'd bet that 9999/10000 people who own an iPad also owns at least one PC. Would you really consider that post PC? This isn't even getting into the fact that tablets ARE PCs, but that's a whole other story. If these stats mean "PCs running Windows or os-x or maybe linux" or a certain type of intel chip, or whatever, they should say so.
  • So is this comparing Apple's computer division to PC's as a whole? Lenovo, HP, Dell, etc? I always feel like these numbers are skewed by stuff like that, just curious. No shock that the imac was their heavy hitter here. I still don't think Macbook Pro's or Air's are worth the money but the 21" imac starting at $1300 seems decent and like an easy sell. I'll always be a PC guy (even if I love my ipad/ipod/iphone/apple TV) but the imac is the one piece of Apple computer hardware that could maybe get me to change my mind.
  • I can see this just in consumer's minds. I was a die hard PC user basically all my life but after a crash on my dell back in 2006 and a blue screen of death the day I walked out of Circuit City with a new Acer laptop...i just knew that there had to be a better way. I have been Apple/Mac ever since. I have even converted many of my friends and family. In my opinion the mainstream consumer is starting to understand that Apple computers are awesome and very user friendly which is something I think Apple has had to overcome because virtually everyone uses PC at work and of course thats what they want to use at home. Keep doing what you do Apple. Welcome to iMore Peter!!!!
  • I did my part! I just bought a 27" iMac within the last month.
  • Well pc sales are about to spike. 1 year and ticking, Windows xp extended support and security updating ends. How many pc do you think businesses will be forced to replace? Within the mix you will have a small percentage of Mac deployments. A few of our clients have gone all Mac. It's pricey! Licensing should be easy to keep to a minimum if you know what your doing.
  • I love my Mac......got my 1st when I was 49 just two years ago. The only reasons I didn't get it years ago was mainly price,and the fear of learning something totally new. I agree that the iPad has affected sales of the Mac. I won't go back to PC!!!!
  • That is great to hear, good for apple!
  • IDC also claimed Mac sales were down 7.5% but reality shows a different take. Perhaps the author should find a better source, or factor in the same error as Apple (IDC was off by 76%!) and the PC market shrunk 3.6%. Anyhoo, the Mac is a dead-end product on life support as with the rest of the industry. The iPad is where the puck is moving to.
  • My Mac is ok for simple tasks but when I need to really get work done or have some fun with actual games nothing comes close to my Windows box..... They are both Personal computers... And this BS of post PC era crap is getting old plenty of Us still require "PC's"for work from basic computing to more advanced software design and visual effects...., not to mention The PC Gaming Community that will spend many times more than a Mac user and is much larger an older than the Mac community... Just throwing that out there...